TRIDENT BOMBSHELL FOR LIB DEMS

15-05-2010

With the Liberal Democrats due to discuss their new coalition with the Conservatives in Birmingham on Sunday, CNS is calling on the party to clarify its position on the Trident nuclear deterrent - which in opposition it was committed to scrapping.

In Liam Fox's first speech as Secretary of State for Defence, he state, "We have got a very clear agreement that we will continue with the nuclear deterrent".

So will the Lib Dems confirm publicly whether Trident will be included in the Strategic Defence Review - contradicting their pre-election pledges?

Kate Hudson, CND Chair, said: "Liam Fox's statement makes very clear the Liberal Democrats have abandoned the option of getting rid of Britain's nuclear weapons altogether - one of the choices that they set out in their recent review.

"Thousands of people voted for them believing they would advance the cause of disarmament and they now need to state publicly whether they will make the case for it, or face real anger from voters.

"There is little public support for spending billions of pounds on Trident replacement, whilst vital public services face George Osborne's axe - the election campaign shows more and more people are politically engaged, and we believe they are ready to take action against Trident replacement."

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